Karl Marx

This essay Karl Marx has a total of 2311 words and 12 pages.
Karl Marx
“No other idea so enchanted the 20th century as Marxism.”[1] Karl Marx was the greatest philosopher and thinker of his time. His views on life and the social structure of his time have revolutionized the way in which people think. Throughout his travels and studies, Karl Marx developed many influential pieces of literature, one of which was the “Communist Manifesto”. Despite his upper-class position in society, Marx created an opportunity for the working-class to rise above the upper-class. Due to the creation of the middle-class he failed. Despite his failure, he was one of the greatest political leaders of his time; setting the basis of Communism in Russia. Karl Marx has strongly affected the way we think today. It is because of him that people have become more open to suggestion, and quicker to create ideas regarding political issues.

Karl Heinrich Marx, a social scientist, revolutionary and historian, was born into an upper-class Jewish home on May 5th, 1818 in Trier, Germany. Despite the fact that he grew up with three sisters, he was his fathers’ favourite. His mother, Henrietta Pressburg, a Dutch Jewess, had no interest in Marxs’ intellectual side. His father, Heinrich, was a Jewish lawyer, and in order to preserve his job with the Prussian state he converted his family to Christianity before his death in 1838.

“Marxs’ childhood was a happy and care-free one.”[2] His parents had a strong relationship, which helped to set Marx on the ‘right’ path. His natural gifts gave his father the hope that they would one day be used in the service of humanity, whilst his mother declared him to be a “child of fortune in whose hands everything would go well”.[3]

Throughout high school Marx stood out among the crowd. When he was asked to write a report on "How to Choose a Profession" he took a different approach than what his classmates took. He stated that there was no way to choose a profession, and that it is because of circumstances that one is placed in an occupation. For example, an individual with a noble background is more likely to obtain a higher role in society than lower-class citizen would be.

Marxs’ school life, other than his marks, is unknown. He left high school at the age of seventeen to pursue post secondary studies at the University of Bonn in the faculty of law. Although his father wanted him to pursue a career as a lawyer, Marx’s reckless university life was getting in the way, and after a year Heinrich transferred him to Berlin. At Berlin, Marxs’ irresponsible behaviour and carefree attitude towards his studies would not be tolerated.

At the age of eighteen, while at Bonn University, Marx got engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, daughter of the upperclassmen Ludwig von Westphalen.[4] The engagement was secret, meaning that they got engaged without asking for the consent of Jenny\'s parents. Marxs’ father did not like the idea of the engagement, but after hearing word that the two had gone ahead with it he eventually accepted it.

While at Berlin, Marx became part of the group known as the Yong
Hegelians. The group was organized by Hegel, a philosophy teacher at the university. Hegel taught until his death in 1818. Those who studied Hegel and his ideals were known as Young Hegelians. The teachings of Hegel shaped the way the school thought towards most things. He spoke of the evolution and development of the mind and ideas. Although Karl was younger than the majority of Hegelians, he was the focus of the group, and was recognized for his intellectual ability. As a result of his Hegelian studies,
He came to believe that all the various sciences and philosophies were part of one overarching, which, when completed, which would give a true and total picture of the universe and man.[5]
Believing that science and philosophy would and could, without a doubt, prove everything, Marx was known as an atheist, and therefore had no belief in a God of any sort. Marx also believes that Hegel must have also been an atheist due to the strong belief he expressed that the mind has control over the outcome of certain situations.[6]

Both Bonn and Berlin Universities required an oral part to the thesis, Marx submitted his

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